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forward arcade

resend · forward 2026A playable arcade for Resend's Forward conference booth: three cabinets, three games and a high-score board, built for the browser.

00the process, in 16 stories

from a sketch to a booth people lined up for.

We documented the whole build on Instagram as it happened. Tap through it here: right side for next, left for back, hold to pause. Turn the sound on for the motion chapters.

    winkodeforward arcade

    originally shared as instagram stories · 1 / 16

    Resend's Forward booth was clean and minimal: a wood wall, a few shelves, some merch and one wall-mounted TV. We turned that TV into a hidden treat for attendees, a small dose of arcade nostalgia waiting to be found.

    Three branded cabinets on screen, each holding a game about email, a scoreboard to fight over, and a version anyone can play at resend.games.

    1. →the briefobjective + deliverables
    2. 01the bootha quiet wall, one tv
    3. 02the referencecapcom, then the sketch
    4. 03the cabinetsprocedural 3d
    5. 04the tools we builtstudio + virtual booth
    6. 05title, motion, soundthe "feel it" part
    7. 06shippedbooth + browser
    client
    Resend
    event
    Resend Forward, October 2026
    what we did
    Concept, 3D cabinets, game design and development, title and branding, motion, sound
    platform
    Browser, WebGL. Built for the booth TV and desktop, with a playable mobile version
    controls
    Arrows to pick a cabinet, Enter to play, Esc for the scoreboard
    tools
    iPad sketching, Venice, procedural 3D, Blender, Figma, plus two tools we built for the job
    live
    resend.games
    playground
    resend.games/playground

    the objective

    an easter egg worth finding.

    Give Forward attendees something they didn't expect: a playful, nostalgic surprise tucked into the booth. The kind of moment that takes you back to walking up to an arcade cabinet as a kid, picking a machine and chasing a high score.

    It had to feel unmistakably Resend: crafted, a little nerdy and all about email. And it had to reward people who stopped to play, then follow them home in a browser tab.

    what we delivered

    Everything from the first sketch to the version anyone can play online.

    1. 01

      concept + art direction

      Arcade concept, reference board, sketches and the title composition.

    2. 02

      three 3d cabinets

      Procedurally built, Resend-branded machines with CRT screens and their own marquee art.

    3. 03

      three original games

      Inbox Invaders, Deliverability Dash and Protocol, each themed around email.

    4. 04

      motion + sound

      The Forward intro, staggered cabinet entrances, typewriter prompts, sound effects and music.

    5. 05

      high-score board

      Arcade-style initials and a scoreboard to keep the booth competitive all day.

    6. 06

      the booth install

      Built to run on the wall-mounted TV with a physical controller.

    7. 07

      resend.games

      A public WebGL version for desktop, plus a handheld-style mobile version.

    8. 08

      cabinet studio

      The 3D editor we built along the way, left open at resend.games/playground.

    01the booth

    a quiet wall needed something loud.

    The booth was all warm wood and white space. The arcade had to live on the TV at the right of the wall, add presence, and still look like it belonged there.

    Digital mockup of the Resend Forward booth with the arcade title on the wall TV
    The booth mockup. The arcade goes on the TV, right side.
    The finished Resend Forward booth: wood wall, shelves, merch and the wall-mounted TV
    The real booth, day one.

    02the reference

    walk up to a machine, not a menu.

    When Christina from Resend pitched an arcade, Capcom Arcade Stadium came to mind right away: classic games presented as physical cabinets you walk up to. Marquees, silhouettes, a row of machines. That became the visual language.

    Capcom Arcade Stadium: a row of lit arcade cabinets with stools
    The reference: Capcom Arcade Stadium.
    Pencil sketch of the Resend Arcade title screen with three cabinets and animation notes
    The concept sketch, drawn next to the reference.
    • titleanimates in and up
    • press any keytypes in like a typewriter
    • cabinetsstagger in from the bottom with a slight 3D rotation
    • lineupthree machines, the selected one front and center

    03the cabinets

    procedural beat blender.

    We blocked out the first cabinet views with Venice, then built the real model two ways: modeled in Blender and generated in code. The procedural version let us change proportions, button layouts and logo placement in seconds, so it won.

    1. Four views of a dark cabinet branded Deliverability Dash and Resend
      first viewsGenerated with Venice to lock the shape.
    2. Close-up of the 3D cabinet: black joystick, two buttons, speaker grille, Resend logo
      the buildProcedural model: joystick, buttons, grille, logo.
    3. Wireframe render of the cabinet with a CRT-style Dash screen
      the screenA CRT treatment, inspired by work from basement.studio.

    04the tools we built

    when the loop gets slow, build the loop.

    Twice the process stalled on back-and-forth. Both times we stopped and built a small tool so we could see the change right away.

    tool 01

    cabinet studio

    Prompting an AI model for every small change got tedious. So we built an editor for the cabinet: orbit, zoom and pan, select and isolate parts in layers, snap to cube faces, take snapshots, import and export. Now we could point at the exact part to change.

    still live: resend.games/playground ↗
    tool 02

    the virtual booth

    Checking the look meant pasting screenshots into a Figma mockup, over and over. So we rebuilt the booth in 3D with the game running live on its TV. Every change, every round of gameplay showed up in context.

    design and runtime, one view

    05title, motion, sound

    some things you have to feel.

    The title screen pairs Forward's branding with the lineup, and each cabinet carries its own game art. Then came the fun part: motion and sound, tuned until it felt like walking into a real arcade.

    The Resend Arcade title screen on a monitor: three cabinets under a blue glow
    An early title composition on a test screen.
    cabinet 01

    inbox invaders

    Hold the line against a wave of incoming mail.

    cabinet 02

    deliverability dash

    Get the message through, fast.

    cabinet 03

    protocol

    Break through the wall, one brick at a time.

    • sound fx
    • motion fx
    • music
    • high scores
    • game branding
    • game previews
    the intro: forward → forward arcade
    select, scoreboard, game cards
    gameplay
    bonus: the mobile version
    The Figma board with title screens, flows and booth mockups
    The Figma board behind it: flows, title screens and camera instructions.

    06shipped

    press start.

    The arcade ran all event on the booth TV with a real controller, and lives on at resend.games for anyone with a keyboard and a WebGL browser. Sound on.

    Inbox Invaders on the booth TV while a visitor plays with a controller
    Inbox Invaders, live at the booth.
    play resend.games ↗open the playground ↗

    start from a real reference

    Capcom Arcade Stadium gave everyone the same picture in one sentence, from the pitch to the sketch.

    pick the fast medium

    Procedural 3D lost a little craft and won a lot of iterations. For an event deadline, that trade pays.

    build the loop you need

    Two small tools, a cabinet editor and a virtual booth, removed the slowest steps in the process.

    Thanks to Christina, Danilo, Manoel and the whole Resend team for letting us run with this one.

    insert coin to continue…

    forward arcade

    see more work

    have something in mind?

    A season to launch, a campaign that needs to live everywhere, or an event people should line up for.

    let's make something good.